The industrial age has given rise to a global economy of factories engaged in mass production of various goods. An enormous amount of commerce is transacted in the buying and selling of such goods. While some such goods lose their value with use, e.g., food products, many such goods retain a substantial portion of their value even after use or ownership by another. Such goods are referred to herein as “durable”. A considerable amount of commerce is transacted in the buying and selling of durable goods.
Almost all durable goods are readily identifiable by a standard unique identification code (“ID code”), such as a Universal Product Code (UPC), particularly those that are mass produced. Some goods may have more than one type of ID code although any one of them is sufficient to uniquely identify the good.
Many durable and readily identifiable goods are fungible items that derive their value substantially from their common characteristics. For example, a single signed copy of Michael Jackson's album titled “Thriller” and recorded on a compact disc (“CD”) derives much of its value because it is signed by the performance artist. Such a CD is unique and therefore is not a fungible good. In contrast, an unsigned copy of Michael Jackson's “Thriller” CD derives substantially all of its value because of the songs recorded thereon. Therefore, all such CD's have substantially the same value to consumers. Such CD's are therefore fungible. Some goods are quasi-fungible. For example, a certain book may be considered fungible in that all such books contains certain text. However, the fact that some such books may be in better condition than others means that the books may be considered quasi-fungible.
In a retail sales environment a single seller offers goods for sale to a buyer in a marketplace, e.g., the seller's store. Such a store is a single seller environment. In an auction environment, numerous sellers present goods for sale in a single marketplace but it is unlikely that multiple sellers would offer the same goods. In addition, a traditional auction format includes presentation for sale of a single good of a single seller at any one time. Traditionally, the buyer has been presented with, at most, multiple single seller environments, e.g., a shopping mall, and the buyer has selected a seller. In other words, these environments are single seller environments because only one seller is involved at the time the buyer is expressing interest in purchasing a good.
A known multi-seller environment involves a marketeer for presenting goods of others for sale. Like an auctioneer, the marketeer presents goods for sale in a marketplace under his control. The seller or a buyer may set a price. For example, a marketeer may have a website presenting for sale goods of individual retail sellers. A buyer may search for a single good and be presented with a list of sellers. The buyer may then select a seller. One such example may be found on the world wide web at www.mysimon.com, the website of mySimon Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. The marketeer's marketplace is a multi-seller environment because multiple sellers are available to the buyer to complete the sale.
Until now, there has been no acceptable way to select a seller from a multiple seller environment where multiple sellers are available to the buyer.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for optimizing seller selection in a multiple seller environment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for optimizing seller selection for a multiple good purchase.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a computer-implemented method for optimizing seller selection.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for practicing the computer-implemented method.